Concerns despite EU shoe duty victory
Uncertainty continues for UK shoe retailers despite vitctory against duty
The UK shoe industry is facing turmoil despite defeating the European
Commission’s proposal to impose ‘shoe-dumping’ duties.
Despite 14 of 25 states voting against so-called dumping duties on shoes
imported from China and Vietnam, there are suggestions that importers are not
signing contracts because they are unclear as to how much duty they will have to
pay.
The proposals, put forward by EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, could
have seen a 16.5% tax on Chinese shoes and 10% on Vietnamese shoes for EU
retailers – a cost that would have been absorbed or passed on to the customer,
and has been estimated at costing the UK industry £8m in tax.
But Emma Ormond, an international trade consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers,
said: ‘I know of quite a few large importers who are holding off from signing
contracts because they don’t know how much, if any, duty they will have to pay.’
Continuing concerns over the potential introduction of a quota, instead of
duty, are hampering the supply chain, The Daily Telegraph reported.